Water skis



B. C. JONES Dec. 4, 1962 WATER SKIS Filed June 1, 1959 VIZIIIIIIIIIA aquatic sport. having skis attached to his feet, behind Unite States atent 3,866,328 WATER SKIS Bruce C. Jones, 2422 Laughiin St, La Crescenta, Calif. Filed June 1, 1959, Ser. No. 817,289 1 Claim. (Cl. 9310) This invention relates to Water skis and is more particularly concerned with a device or aid to be used in combination with a pair of conventional water skis.

Water skiing has, in recent years, become a popular The sport consists of towing a person, a power boat, by means of a tow rope. In order to successfully ski in the manner referred to above, the skiers must be towed at a rate or speed at or in excess of the speed at which the skis will plane on the surface of the water. The speed at which the ordinary skis, supporting a person of average weight will plane is normally between fifteen and twenty miles per hour.

In order to get water-borne, that is, to start skiing and attain a planing speed, the skier must be pulled and occelerated-through the water, from a stationary position, where the skis and the major portion of his body are submerged, to said planing speed. During this period of acceleration, the skier must, through the exertion of physical strength, maintain the skis in proper position below his body and at a proper inclination so that as his speed through the water increases, the skis will elevate and eventually surface.

There is a tendency, when starting to water ski, for the forward ends of the skis to turn laterally outwardly, that is, to turn in a manner so that the skis assume a forwardly divergent relationship with each other. When this happens the legs of the skier are drawn apart by the skis as he is pulled through the water, with the result that he is very rapidly put into such an awkward, unbalanced condition that he is pulled forward and spilled.

The strong, skilled water skier can overcome the tendency for the skis to separate in the manner set forth above with little difficulty, however, the novice skier, or a person without the strength and/ or coordination to overcome this tendency for the skis to separate, finds great difficulty in getting water-borne and must make repeated attempts before he can achieve the desired results. Frequently, it is only a matter of luck or chance that certain persons ever get water-borne on skis.

An object of the present invention is to provide an aid or device to be employed in combination with a pair of water skis, which aid or device serves to maintain the forward ends of the skis in proper spaced relationship.

An object of this invention is to provide an aid for water skiers in the nature of a hobble applicable to the forward end portions of a pair of water skis, which affords a minimum of resistance in the water at the commencement of the skiing and which does not adversely eflect operation of the skis when the skier is water-borne.

An object of the present invention is to provide a device of the character referred to which is in the nature of an attachment and such that it can be advantageously applied to and removed from the pair of skis to which it is related with the expenditure of a minimum amount of time and efiort.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a device of the character referred to involving an elongate tie member to extend between the skis and means at the ends of said member to engage the ski related thereto.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a device of the character referred to and including manually operable means to release the tie member from one ski when the skier is water-borne.

It is an object of the invention to provide a device of the character referred to which is easy and economical 3,066,328 Patented Dec. 4, 1962 of manufacture and a device which is both highly effective and dependable in operation. a

The various objects and features of my invention will be fully understood from the following detailed description of typical preferred forms and applications of my invention, throughout which description reference is made to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a water skier with the device provided by the present invention applied to the skis.

FIG. 2 is a perspective View of the device provided by the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a sectional View taken as indicated by line 33 on FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a portion of a pair of skis and showing a second form of the present invention applied thereto.

FIG. 5 is a sectional View taken as indicated by line 5-5 on FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a portion of a pair of skis and showing a third form of the present invention applied thereto.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken as indicated by line 7-7 on FIG. 6.

The device A provided by the present invention is in the nature of a hobble and, as illustrated in FIG. 1 of the drawings, is adapted to be cooperatively related with the forward end portion of a pair of skis 10 to limit relative lateral outward shifting of said forward portions of the skis.

In the form of the invention illustrated .in FIGS. 1 through 3 of the drawings, the device A is shown as including, an elongate, flexible tie member 11 and a loop 12 at each end of the tie member and engageable about the forward end portions of the skis.

In practice, the device A is formed of a resilient material, such as rubber and the openings 13 defined by the loops 12 are slightly less or smaller than the cross-sectional extent of the skis.

With the above relationship of parts, it will be apparent that the loops 12 of the device must be stretched over the ends of the skis and when in position yieldingly engage about the skis in a manner so that they will remain in fixed position thereon.

In practice, the tie member 11 is of limited cross-sec-' tionalextent so that it will afford a minimum resistance in the water. In the form of the invention presently under consideration, the member 11 is in the form of a ribbon and is of substantially less width than the loops 12 at the ends thereof.

In the second form of the invention, illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5 of the drawings, the tie member 11 is a simple, elongate, flexible cord of rubber, or the like, and is provided at its ends with loops 12', defining openings 13 of limited extent.

The second form of the invention further includes a pair of plates 14 secured to the top surface 15 of the skis, at the forward portion thereof, and having upwardly projecting spherical buttons 16 thereon.

The buttons 16 on the plates 14 are adapted to yieldingly engage through the loops 12 at the ends of the tie member 11 and releasably secure the tie member to the skis.

The second form of the invention can, if desired, and as illustrated in the drawings, include a pull cord 17 to extend from one of the loops 12 to the hand of the skier and adapted to be pulled, to release the said one loop from the button 16 related thereto and to thereby unhobble the skis.

The provision of the pull cord to unhobble the skis is more advantageous since it permits the skier to continue skiing free, once he is water-borne or planing.

a In the case illustrated, the loops 12' are in the nature of flat pads at the ends ,of the tie member 11' and are provided with slotted openings 13', which extend parallel with the longitudinal axis of the skis.

The pad establishing the loops 12 to which the pull cord 17 is attached is elongated and projects forwardly from the opening 13' therein. The forwardly projecting portion of the pad is apertured to receive the adjacent lower end of the cord, which is suitably knotted below the pad to prevent it from being pulled out of engagement therewith.

By elongating the pad related to the cord 17 forwardly, in the manner set forth above, it will be apparent that when the cord is pulled upwardly and rearwardly by the skier, the pad is, in effect, peeled or rolled out of engagement with the button 16 to which it is related and is not subject to binding or locking on the button in a manner which would make releasing of the connection difficult.

In the third form of the invention, illustrated in FIGS. 6 and 7 of the drawings, the tie member 11" is a simple, elongate, flexible member and is provided at one end portion with a plurality of longitudinally spaced enlargements 18 and a pull cord extension 17' continuing from said one end portion.

The third form of the invention, now under consideration, further includes eyes or loops 12" on the inner opposed edges 19 of the skis, at the forward portions thereof. The loops 12" are preferably horizontally disposed and, as illustrated, can be in the form of simple eye screws, or, if desired, could be carried by a plate, or the like, suitably strapped to the skis and in such a manner as not to deface the skis.

The plane end of the tie member 11" is secured to the loops 12 of one ski as by a suitable knotting operation,

The pull cord extension 17' is engaged through the other loop 12" from the under or bottom side thereof and extends upwardly whereit is engaged in the hand of the skier.

The pull cord extension 17 is drawn to bring the end portion of the tie member 11" with the enlargements 18 into engagement with the second mentioned loop.

The enlargements 18 are of slightly less diametric extent than the interior of the loop to which they are related, so that they can shift freely therethrough.

In operation, the tie member 11" extends horizontally between the skis and the end portion with the enlargemerits 18 is bent at a right angle where it projects through the eye to which it is related, to project rearwardly and upwardly towards the skier.

With the above relationship of parts and when the pull cord 17' and tie member 11" are maintained taut by the skier, the enlargements 18 serve as stops and prevent the end portion, with the enlargements, from shifting through the loop through which it is engaged.

When the skier is water-borne, he can release or drop the cord 17' whereupon the tie member 11" and the cord 17 are free to slide out of engagement with the said loop 12".

In the preferred carrying out of the third form of the invention, now under consideration, the tie member 11", enlargements 18 thereon and the pull cord 17 is a unitary structure molded of rubber and is such that it will yield sufficiently so that relative shifting and balancing of the skier, when employing the construction, will not be impeded.

It is to be understood, however, that the structure just mentioned could be formed of a single length of rope, suitably knotted.

Having described only typical preferred forms and applications of my invention, I do not wish to be limited or restricted to the specific details herein set forth, but Wish to reserve to myself any modifications or variations that may appear to those skilled in the art and fall within the scope of the following claim.

Having described my invention, I claim:

In combination, a pair of elongate water skis arranged in laterally spaced, parallel relationship, an elongate, flexible, resilient tie member extending between the forward end portions of the skis to prevent excessive lateral outward shifting of the forward ends of the skis and means releasably securing ends of the member to the skis, said means including spherical projections on the skis, loops on the ends of the tie member and engageable about the projections and a manually engageable pull cord fixed to and extending from one of the loops and adapted to pull the loop related thereto from engagement with said projection.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS OTHER REFERENCES A brochure entitled Kimball Water Skis, Kimball Manufacturing Corp., 1270 Pennsylvania Ave., San Francisco 7, Calif. (page 4). 

